TN: 00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe]

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AKR
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TN: 00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe]

Post by AKR »

00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe] Purchased EP, popped and poured, lightly chilled, over two days, with a rib eye steak, and then burgers. 13% abv. Fades on day 2. Rusty red/brown in color, lightening at edges, medium bodied. Bouquet is tight, a little saddle and earth, not much else. Tannins are well resolved. Doesn't show any oak. Medium bodied, 20 second finish. Fruit is on the leaner, red fruit side, and fading. Needs food really. Medium amounts of sediment. I do not recall this in its youth (don't recall if I had one young) but I wish I'd had consumed this earlier. H-M in the US is usually around $35-$40 for current releases, which has always felt kind of high to me. And given the aging/cellaring I put into this, I found it disappointing. It makes it hard to consider buying more recent examples. Unusually, for the AOC, it doesn't have a reputation for keeping well. I guess I'd give this a B or B-. Bottle was sound, perfect cork and fill, no TCA btw.

I'll console myself that at least the 2003 is drinking well today, and I have a couple left.
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AlexR
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Re: TN: 00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe]

Post by AlexR »

Arv,

Haut-Marbuzet is a great success story. Hervé Duboscq bought 7 hectares of vines hard by Cos d’Estournel in 1952. There are now 76, and Haut-Marbuzet has a fairly solid reputation.

I have had the wine on numerous occasions, but I unfortunately have been less impressed with recent vintages.

On Sunday, I opened a bottle of 2008 that M. Henri Duboscq gave me when I visited the estate with Izak Litwar several years ago.

Color: attractive, with very deep core and just beginning to turn brick-red on the rim

Nose: blackcurrant, blackcurrant leaves, eucalyptus and a cherry-vanilla component, as well as beeswax. Seeing as Haut-Marbuzet is aged in 100% new oak barrels, I thought this would be more obvious on the bouquet, but it wasn’t. Be this as it may, the nose was not particularly deep or expressive.

Palate: The oak, however, does come through with a vengeance here. It decidedly overwhelms, and no amount of ageing will soften it and make it recede into the background. There is an oddly diluted quality, as well as some greenness, accompanied by a dry, hard side… I really wish I could be more positive. I really must try another vintage of Haut-Marbuzet soon to see whether or not this was a fluke.

All the best,
Alex R.
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JimHow
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Re: TN: 00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe]

Post by JimHow »

It seems to me Haut Marbuzet disappoints more often than it impresses.
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Racer Chris
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Re: TN: 00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe]

Post by Racer Chris »

I drank an '88 and an '89 last year. Both were quite good, especially the '89.
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AKR
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Re: TN: 00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe]

Post by AKR »

Maybe when I've had them the oak has gotten soaked up.

I don't seem to notice the oak in the estate that others mention.

Or maybe I'm more tolerant.

Perhaps they just have to be drunk young, and once that fact is accepted, its ok.

But I don't really understand who is buying these.

It's more than one would expect for an "ok" wine.

PS: the 1990 was severely downgraded by RP a few years ago which may explain why its now widely available at prices hardly more than where it used to be 15 years ago. 2000 was also downgraded. He too suggests that aging these is unwise.
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AlohaArtakaHoundsong
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Re: TN: 00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe]

Post by AlohaArtakaHoundsong »

Never had it but by reputation and even back to a mid 80s Hugh Johnson's Encyclopedia, this estate and its owner were "controversial" for producing a flashy style of wine with earlier drinking appeal. Ironic to the max as evidently he anticipated the trend of Rolland, Derenoncourt et al by a decade or more and now some of us are finding his wines disappointing. Does the glide path of these wines say anything about what's in store for the wines that have taken flight off the same runway?
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winodiver
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Re: TN: 00 Haut Marbuzet [St Estephe]

Post by winodiver »

I quite liked the '98 on two separate occasions--in 2001 when the oak component was fairly pronounced and last year when it had fully integrated. I had a very favorable impression of this wine both times.
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